The Undertrained

I am the queen of undertraining. I don’t know how it always happens. I set out, goal in mind, race plan set, and then somewhere along the way I fall off the wagon. Life gets in the way, and by life, I usually mean sleep. So here I am, 9 days before my FIRST marathon and I have more red days on my calendar than green and yellow combined (my training calendar has this neat little setting where the runs you completed turn green, less than completed yellow and didn’t do red).

Don’t get me wrong, I have had my fair share of issues. From being sent home by my fiancé at mile 12 during a 16-miler because I was limping was just one of them. I have been sick, have extreme tendonitis in both ankles, the world’s worst shin splint on top of the dead legs that come with the high mileage of Hanson’s Training Method, I let many of my runs fall to the wayside. I am slow, so I know I can probably run/walk about 20 miles or so and be ok, but there’s a 6 hour time cut-off and that’s a serious concern. I got cortisone shots in both ankles to get me through the marathon and at this point I am hoping for the best.

I am normally cool as a cucumber. Working in the death industry, nothing is as big of a deal as dying. Except apparently a marathon, because it is all I think about. I think about the pain, the slow time, the “getting picked up by the bus” fear, and everything else in between. It’s all I do. I hate running right now, marathon training has absolutely ruined my love of running. But I want to run this one marathon, one time, and never do another. Will I make it? I  have run all but 1 of my half marathons completely undertrained (except for the one I ran right in the middle of marathon training and it was one of my slowest but the whole course was basically hills where I had to BEND IN A 90 DEGREE ANGLE to walk up and for this Florida girl, that was rough). I finished, miserably, all of those half marathons. I can honestly say I don’t even think I have given a 5-K the training it deserves. But guys, this is a marathon. Something to be respected, and I have disrespected it. Completely.

So, pray for me. Feed me encouragement. Tell me I am not the only one who doesn’t follow the plan.

Updates

So, I haven’t been here in a while. I’m going to try this route again. Let’s give you the quick updates:

• got engaged! Woo!
• marathon training for my first marathon October 9, 2016
• working on my teaching license (1 test down, 2 to go)

Those are the main updates in my life. Pretty big life changes going on here. Let’s get on with update 1!

We got engaged on our trip to North Carolina. I knew it was coming but I was still totally surprised when it happened. He proposed in a blackberry patch when it was just us. It was perfect. We started wedding planning and set the date for September 22, 2017. I’m sure time will fly.

Update 2: Marathon training. Have any of y’all ever trained for a marathon? It is rough. I’m a month out today (holy crap!) and I’m exhausted. I don’t know how my dang legs are going to carry on. I’m running on the Hanson plan, which has me only running a max of a 16 mile long run. I’m heading out on that in the AM

Update 3: Getting my teaching license has been a whirlwind of decisions from getting a secondary bachelors in English, to thinking I was going to get a Master degree then changing my mind, to now I am still getting  a Bachelor in English (slowly) but I am going to get my teaching credentials taken care of as well. I will be starting an Educator Preparation Program in Spring after I pass my English Subject Area exam. Very exciting stuff. I cannot wait to pursue this path. It’s always been a dream of mine and I couldn’t be happier about it.

Those are my quick updates. Lots has happened, lots to come. Hopefully lots of blogging as well. Looking forward to having y’all along for the ride!